Melted down piston heads, helicopter parts, a wing strut, and more. These ingots will eventually be turned into anthill castings. Insta @Kiefer_Casting
Very satisfying video, watching those huge bits all fit into the pot too, I think you should get some custom ingot moulds with your initials or channel name on the bottom to imprint on your bars!
I will put another video out for you soon. between life and all the rain we get I haven’t had the chance to make anymore castings in a while. Thank you!
Great tip about preheating scrap and ingot molds before molten metal contact in order to prevent steam explosions. Steam eplosions always come as a complete surprise and never give you any time to jump out of the way. Lengths of open ended pipe and tubing are especially dangerous this way; if you forget to preheat them and submerge a cold end with a fat juicy spider (or even just a tiny bit of invisible residual/condensed moisture) hiding in it into the melt, the end up top can supersoaker you right in the face point blank with a volcano of molten metal! Aim the top away from anyone standing nearby when you stick it in there, just in case... I don't know about aviation castings but in automotive use, most of the Al castings are A356 with about 6% silicon, except I'm told the pistons usually have about twice that much Si. That should make pistonite a realy great choice for anthill casting, because the Si in the alloy improves flow (among other things). If you mix it with chunks of ladder metal and tubing and other extrusions which do not have any Si at all though, the melt may not flow very well, or will at least require more superheat to perform similarly in terms of casting size and actually filling up all the skinny ant tunnels. I only ever tried pouring anthills maybe 5 times total before. Kinda fun, I get it, but what I really enjoy is making sand molds... so to me you're sorta letting the ants have all the fun here. 😁 They sure are great little molders though!
Thank you, lots of good info. Pistonite is a great name for those ingots haha. I’m thinking about getting into the sand casting, I’ve done a few open face molds but nothing with a proper cope and drag.
@@NolansAnthillCastings 👍 i mostly use wheelium myself, the air valves are easy to yank out and no steel bits to fish out. Not as easy to fit in the crucible though... 😁
Have you ever thought of cutting the large pieces into smaller ones to make them easier to handle before melting? Also please get some protection for your body - long sleeve leather (you can buy them at a welding supply place). Protection for your eyes and a respirator.
Great vid mate - and thats some nice, clean al-you-min-ium ;) You wont usually find anything at the bottom of the crucible, once molten even sand, and rocks float on the top. Good to see stable safety practices too, too many people come across a single video and go "I can do that", but not know the little gotchas like how quickly things go bad with cold moulds etc.. I've been doing some lost PLA (3d) prints and the results are fantastic... in sand and plaster.
I do love watching you melt the metal at night I watch around 11pm to 12pm so it's nice to have a darker background. Besides the metal looks cool (ha ha) at night and the fire is intense.
I loved this video. Super satisfying! Id love to see you make more. Have you thought about getting a larger piece of the bricks you set everything on to have less of a chance of fire? Like having your own little moveable work station? I know you wouldn't want it getting wet as much as possible so having it still be able to be moved inside is probably the best option but it'd be cool to see you give yourself a little upgrade in soem ways, like you talked about in a recent video of getting a bigger thing to melt things down in, and like another comment said about having custom molds. I'd honestly watch probably every video you made melting stuff down if theres ever another video! Definitely subscribed in case you do end up making more of these!! This hobby is so cool! With the ant hill art and with you making use of scrap that was once trash to most other people, it's satisfying to see you having a small part in making use of the waste we all create. Please make more of these!! 😁
Hi Nolan. Great video. Please stay safe and healthy and take care of yourself and your family members. To all members also. Talk to you later my friend. ☺☺☺😇😇😇
Always interesting to watch how people do the anthill projects as well as transforming aluminum into ingots. One thing to consider when making ingots: even if you're doing this for anthill projects... fill the larger forms first then the smaller one from the overflow amount.
I like to make various height ingots so I can fit the most metal in my crucible at once. That’s why I fill the small one first so I end up having an odd sized large ingot.
Is there something else you can use other then aluminum? Maybe something cold like a plaster t,ype thing ? Might take hours or days to set up in an anthill, just sounds safer and less exsensive. I'd like to cast just very nervous about hot liquid metals.
I know entomologist used plasters but it was very brittle and they had to put it all back together after digging it out. The digging part is the most labor intensive and you’d have to dig much more carefully if using plaster or silicone and therefor a lot more work. But that’s how they used to do it, so it can be done.
Did you remove the piston rings before you melted the Pistons? If not I recommend it because piston rings are made out of a much harder material with a much higher melting point. Should make it a little easier, I love your videos you are one of those 3 AM discoveries that I’m glad I found.
I just pulled them out as the aluminum melted. My furnace isn’t hot enough to melt steel so it’s pretty easy to pull out once everything else is melted.
@@NolansAnthillCastings just after the 19:00 minute mark, you open the gas line with your foot. Does the radiant heat from what still exists in the crucible reignite the furnace fire? You didn’t use the propane torch like you did when it was cold.
Aircraft parts are made of mostly aluminum but aluminum being light is the biggest clue. Then it’s either magnesium or aluminum and if you put a drop of vinegar on it and it doesn’t fizzle then it’s aluminum.
All I have to cut things is an angle grinder. A cut off wheel would not do well going through that thick of aluminum. Cost me maybe an extra 2 bucks of propane to do it this way. Plus it looks more interesting this way lol.
Very satisfying video, watching those huge bits all fit into the pot too, I think you should get some custom ingot moulds with your initials or channel name on the bottom to imprint on your bars!
I've only just descovered these videos and I'm sad that there hasn't been any new ones in 8months lol
So entertaining to watch =)
I will put another video out for you soon. between life and all the rain we get I haven’t had the chance to make anymore castings in a while. Thank you!
I don't know why I find it so satisfying to watch aluminum melt. LOL Great video!!!
Should drill holes in the spoon to help drain.
Also you want an n99 or higher respirator
Yeah for how much of this he does, just staying up wind is pushing it for lung safety. Definitely a M95 isnt good enough
Am I the only one who is going to ask, "Where are you getting the awesome aircraft aluminum"?
That's some high grade anthills!
I work at an airport and I’ve got a buddy who does aircraft maintenance and I bought some scrap off of him.
Great tip about preheating scrap and ingot molds before molten metal contact in order to prevent steam explosions. Steam eplosions always come as a complete surprise and never give you any time to jump out of the way. Lengths of open ended pipe and tubing are especially dangerous this way; if you forget to preheat them and submerge a cold end with a fat juicy spider (or even just a tiny bit of invisible residual/condensed moisture) hiding in it into the melt, the end up top can supersoaker you right in the face point blank with a volcano of molten metal! Aim the top away from anyone standing nearby when you stick it in there, just in case...
I don't know about aviation castings but in automotive use, most of the Al castings are A356 with about 6% silicon, except I'm told the pistons usually have about twice that much Si. That should make pistonite a realy great choice for anthill casting, because the Si in the alloy improves flow (among other things). If you mix it with chunks of ladder metal and tubing and other extrusions which do not have any Si at all though, the melt may not flow very well, or will at least require more superheat to perform similarly in terms of casting size and actually filling up all the skinny ant tunnels.
I only ever tried pouring anthills maybe 5 times total before. Kinda fun, I get it, but what I really enjoy is making sand molds... so to me you're sorta letting the ants have all the fun here. 😁 They sure are great little molders though!
Thank you, lots of good info. Pistonite is a great name for those ingots haha. I’m thinking about getting into the sand casting, I’ve done a few open face molds but nothing with a proper cope and drag.
@@NolansAnthillCastings 👍 i mostly use wheelium myself, the air valves are easy to yank out and no steel bits to fish out. Not as easy to fit in the crucible though... 😁
I use them as well. I throw the rim into a fire pit and then break it up with a sledgehammer while it’s still hot.
Have you ever thought of cutting the large pieces into smaller ones to make them easier to handle before melting? Also please get some protection for your body - long sleeve leather (you can buy them at a welding supply place). Protection for your eyes and a respirator.
Very cool to watch , and interesting .
Just great , Mike .
Upwind….
LOVE the videos, thanks so much! Truly beautiful pieces of aluminum when you, and the ants, are done!
Great vid mate - and thats some nice, clean al-you-min-ium ;) You wont usually find anything at the bottom of the crucible, once molten even sand, and rocks float on the top. Good to see stable safety practices too, too many people come across a single video and go "I can do that", but not know the little gotchas like how quickly things go bad with cold moulds etc..
I've been doing some lost PLA (3d) prints and the results are fantastic... in sand and plaster.
Pouring at night was probably the sweetest part. Enjoy your videos 👍
I agree, thank you!
I'm mesmerized by the whole process!! This is awesome! Almost as relaxing as respecting and maybe more in some ways.
I do love watching you melt the metal at night I watch around 11pm to 12pm so it's nice to have a darker background. Besides the metal looks cool (ha ha) at night and the fire is intense.
I loved this video. Super satisfying! Id love to see you make more. Have you thought about getting a larger piece of the bricks you set everything on to have less of a chance of fire? Like having your own little moveable work station? I know you wouldn't want it getting wet as much as possible so having it still be able to be moved inside is probably the best option but it'd be cool to see you give yourself a little upgrade in soem ways, like you talked about in a recent video of getting a bigger thing to melt things down in, and like another comment said about having custom molds. I'd honestly watch probably every video you made melting stuff down if theres ever another video! Definitely subscribed in case you do end up making more of these!! This hobby is so cool! With the ant hill art and with you making use of scrap that was once trash to most other people, it's satisfying to see you having a small part in making use of the waste we all create. Please make more of these!! 😁
I watched this on a separate account but I'm going to let it run again on this account so it gains an extra view!
Loved it! please make more "scrap to ingots" videos.
Hi Nolan. Great video. Please stay safe and healthy and take care of yourself and your family members. To all members also. Talk to you later my friend. ☺☺☺😇😇😇
I wonder how that step ladder broke...... probably crushed by a hangar door but hey who knows lol
Yeah some idiot probably closed a hangar door on it. What a clown
Had to pop a propane tank off the grill towards the end i see, jk loving the vids bro
OUTSTANDING
Always interesting to watch how people do the anthill projects as well as transforming aluminum into ingots.
One thing to consider when making ingots: even if you're doing this for anthill projects... fill the larger forms first then the smaller one from the overflow amount.
I like to make various height ingots so I can fit the most metal in my crucible at once. That’s why I fill the small one first so I end up having an odd sized large ingot.
Awesome, Fabulous
Stay upwind and keep furnace down wind
Is there something else you can use other then aluminum? Maybe something cold like a plaster t,ype thing ? Might take hours or days to set up in an anthill, just sounds safer and less exsensive. I'd like to cast just very nervous about hot liquid metals.
I know entomologist used plasters but it was very brittle and they had to put it all back together after digging it out. The digging part is the most labor intensive and you’d have to dig much more carefully if using plaster or silicone and therefor a lot more work. But that’s how they used to do it, so it can be done.
What are tha casts made out of? And where did you get them?
A wrench out of aluminium? This seems to be rare.
Coooool 👍🏿
Did you remove the piston rings before you melted the Pistons? If not I recommend it because piston rings are made out of a much harder material with a much higher melting point. Should make it a little easier, I love your videos you are one of those 3 AM discoveries that I’m glad I found.
I just pulled them out as the aluminum melted. My furnace isn’t hot enough to melt steel so it’s pretty easy to pull out once everything else is melted.
Video is amazing. What size furnace do you use?
10kg ceramic wool devil forge
@@NolansAnthillCastings Thanks a lot, thinking of getting into casting and that looks a very decent size
Yeah I love it. I’ve had it for a bit more than a year and still only minor issues. Have fun and stay safe!
@@NolansAnthillCastings just after the 19:00 minute mark, you open the gas line with your foot. Does the radiant heat from what still exists in the crucible reignite the furnace fire? You didn’t use the propane torch like you did when it was cold.
Exquisite . ☺☺☺😇😇😇
What was the total mass of starting material vs. total mass you ended up with?
4
How do you know its aluminum?
Aircraft parts are made of mostly aluminum but aluminum being light is the biggest clue. Then it’s either magnesium or aluminum and if you put a drop of vinegar on it and it doesn’t fizzle then it’s aluminum.
Puedes activar de algun modo el traductor al español??
Next up, I'ma need a video about how frikken handsome you are.
How do you clean the zinc out of the crucible?
I just scrape it out with the spoon.
@@NolansAnthillCastings it gets the residue out too?
The residue will just burn out. You just have to make sure not to breath the fumes
@@NolansAnthillCastings ahh, neat. Thank you
pistonsare aluminum but those rings arent, need to take them off
They're just pistons, not piston heads. Good melt.
Wow jet fuel actually can't melt steel
The amount of time it took you to melt that piston would it not have made more sense to cut it in half and have the lid on and conserve propane?
All I have to cut things is an angle grinder. A cut off wheel would not do well going through that thick of aluminum. Cost me maybe an extra 2 bucks of propane to do it this way. Plus it looks more interesting this way lol.
You should be wearing a respirator or mask the fumes are not good for you take care of yourself safty first
Really cool end product, but the amount of water wasted on spraying mud is insane to me.
Trevor Mottram. 🤔. Hey budy, he was also watering his grass. Chill please. Thank you. Have a good day. ☺☺☺😇😇😇
665th 👍